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This page is influenced by the Chinese gunpowder green tea that I drink everyday and also, by a quote from a Chinese Tea Master.

As I’m including a drink on this page I’m pleased to join the T Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Day! Including a quote means I can also join in the “Poetry in Motion” challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

I started by applying Desert, Boulder, Chestnut and Fawn Spectrum Aqua markers to an acrylic block, spritzing the block with water and pressing it onto the page. As you can see I didn’t cover the whole page in ink and left some white space on the left hand side of my page. Then I used a Craft Expressions honeycomb stencil to add Ground Espresso and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and Potter’s Clay Memento Ink layering the different colours using a blending tool. I used the same Ground Espresso, Chipped Sapphire and Potter’s Clay inks to stamp layers of 4-point star images to the background and I also stamped a hexagon design stamp around the border of the page using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. I cut some strips from a Chinese newspaper, which I got free from a Chinese grocery store that I visit, and then I drew a cup and saucer onto the same newspaper and cut them out. They are stuck to the page using a UHU stic and once the glue had dried I outlined them with black Uni Pin and Derwent Graphik markers. The grey and black Chinese writing and coloured circles are rub-on transfers by Kaisercraft and the little black dragonflies are brads, which I pushed through the page. I covered the back of each brad with masking tape to protect my next journal page. Next I stamped the quote onto a tag using black Archival Ink and outlined some of the letters using a white Uniball gel pen to add definition. To finish, I added a blue piece of twine to the tag and stuck it to the page using double-sided foam tape.

It’s our daily ritual to have a cup of green tea with a cake (usually homemade) for elevenses. I always make a big batch of cupcakes which we keep in the fridge; these ones are carrot cakes (grin!).

I really like this quote from a Chinese Tea Master “The act of tea making is a moment of calm meditation” as I always enjoy making the tea and find the process of making it quite therapeutic; we use loose Gunpowder green tea from China and I make it in a glass teapot that came all the way from Japan. It makes the perfect cup of tea for two people (double grin!).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

This month’s theme over at Art Journal Journey is “Poetry in Motion” so I was inspired to create this fun page based on a nursery rhyme from my childhood which we used to sing at school, you may know it …

I added turquoise coloured tissue paper to the centre of the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium, then sprinkled on Ultramarine Colourcraft Brusho powder. I applied more matte gel medium to activate the powder pulling the Brusho colour across the page, as I did this I also wrinkled the tissue paper to add texture so it looked like the sea. I like the way the Brushos added different depths of blue colour. Then I painted Pébéo white gesso over parts of the page using my finger to push some of the colour back and splattered the page with a paintbrush dipped in black and white acrylic paint to look like air bubbles. Next I arranged the fun orange fish, which are brads, so they appeared to be swimming in shoals across the page. I pushed each brad through the page and then covered the back with a piece of masking tape to prevent any damage to the next journal page. To finish, I stamped the speech bubbles onto white tissue paper using black Archival Ink, fussy cut them out and added the wording from the rhyme; they are stuck in place using a UHU stic.

Of course there were only “three little fishies” in the original rhyme so I applied some artistic licence when I created this page (grin!).

Me and my hubby both enjoy snorkeling and diving whilst on holiday, so we have spent many happy hours swimming with the fishes in the sea.

These pictures were taken in Cyprus where there are always plenty of fish to see.

I’d like to thank everyone for their amazing support and participation in this month’s “Poetry in Motion” challenge over at Art Journal Journey and I’m really pleased that you are enjoying the theme so much!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

Morecambe & Wise are a well-known comedy duo here in the UK and I have fond memories of watching their famous TV shows. So you can imagine my delight when we heard their songs outside the Winter Gardens whilst we were shopping in town. On investigating, the music led us to a wonderful bronze statue of them both that has been unveiled in the foyer. This inspired me to create a journal page of them that includes the title of their signature song “Bring Me Sunshine”.

Having quoted this song on my page, I’m linking to the “Poetry in Motion” theme over at Art Journal Journey. Hope you’ll join in the fun too by creating a page that is inspired by a poem, saying or quote (maybe from your favourite song).

I started by stamping a star burst stamp onto the middle of the page using grey Memento Ink and extending the starburst sun pattern using a ruler and pencil. Then I painted alternating sections with a yellow and then a gold Spectrum Aqua marker which I scribbled onto an acrylic block and diluted with water using a paintbrush. Next I stamped “Bring Me Sunshine” using a Papermania Leftovers Alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink. I added two washi tapes to the top and bottom of the page, the film and music note designs depict their television shows and songs. The Morecambe & Wise photo is cut from a magazine and shows them in their younger days when they appeared at the Winter Gardens itself. Next I added some metal music notes attaching them to the page with silver brads. I finished the page with smiley star stickers which reminded me of their comedy and how they make me smile.

This is the Morecambe & Wise statue that greets you when you enter the Winter Gardens and with the songs they are well-known for playing in the air it fills you with a lovely sense of nostalgia. Blackpool is considered their “spiritual home” as they performed six summer seasons and over a 1,000 shows here. This statue marks the 75th anniversary of their debut performance as a double act, which was at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre in 1941.

Their 43-year partnership started in variety theatres where they honed their performance before making their famous TV shows on the BBC and ITV. Their Christmas specials were one of the highlights of the festive season and in 1977 they attracted over 27 million viewers. Guest stars included The Beatles, André Previn, Shirley Bassey and of course Des O’Connor (grin!).

Morecambe & Wise always made me laugh as a young girl growing up and still do today as there are always reruns of their shows at Christmas time. Their songs and dance numbers are fantastic and always make me smile, here’s a rendition of “Bring me Sunshine” from one of their shows – so funny!

There have also been some other happy reminders of Morecambe & Wise of late (grin!). This time of year we often cycle up the prom on our tandem, here I am on the Comedy Carpet in Blackpool and I’m standing by their section of the carpet with the lyrics of this song in front of me! If you are interested, here are some fun facts about the song:

“Bring Me Sunshine” is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee and it was first performed by American artists.

In the UK, the song is synonymous with Morecambe & Wise after it was adopted as their signature tune in their second series for the BBC in 1969. Here’s the lyrics of the song in full.

The song was played over the duo’s closing credits and they only ever sang the first verse, the second one being purely instrumental with Eric and Ernie performing a “skip dance” to exit the stage.

We have also been to quite a few local beer festivals lately and when I saw this beer I just had to have a pint of it. It’s called “Morecambe’s Sunshine” and is brewed by Cross Bay Brewery which is located in Morecambe; the beer is light in colour, 4% abv ( alcohol by volume) and has a lovely smooth malt taste – yum! I’m saying a big cheers to the T Gang over at T stands for Tuesday and wishing you all a Happy Sunshiny T Day!

The pump clip shows the bronze statue of Eric Morecambe in his famous “skip dance” pose. This statue is on my list of places to visit and is located on the seafront at Morecambe, it’s actually designed by the same person who made the bronze sculpture of them both (above).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

Snapdragons (antirrhinums) are one of my all time favourite summer flowers and as they are in full bloom in my garden I thought I would create a page. With my love for this flower I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun with Bluebeard and Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover with her “Summertime Love” theme over at Art Journal Journey.

I started with Potter’s Clay and Rich Cocoa Memento Ink which I applied to an acrylic block, spritzed with water and painted onto the page using a paintbrush. Then I stippled the same inks through a brick design stencil and also a wood grain stencil; these designs remind me of the area in our garden where the snapdragons are flowering. Next I tore up a page, that contained information about plant biology, from a Pear’s Cyclopaedia and layered the paper pieces onto my page using a UHU Stic. Once the glue had dried, I applied Butter Cream, Watermelon and Earl Grey Faber-Castell Gelatos and edged the papers with a black Sharpie Marker, smudging all the colours with my finger. I splattered the background with black acrylic paint using a paint brush and once dry I covered the whole page with white gesso. While the gesso was drying, I used a baby wipe to remove it from the papers and some of the brick and wood grain designs allowing the writing and colours to show through. The snapdragons are from a wallpaper sample which I fussy cut and stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium. Once the gel medium had dried I outlined them with a Derwent Graphik marker and added shadows using Desert and Slate Spectrum Aqua Markers. To show my love for these flowers, I used some pretty pink heart brads. I pushed them through the page and then covered the back of each brad with a piece of masking tape to prevent any damage to the next journal page. I drew a very faint green circle around each heart using a Moss Spectrum Aqua Marker and then I added splatters of the Moss and also a Chocolate Aqua marker using a paintbrush; I did this by scribbling the Aqua markers onto an acrylic block and spritzing the block with water to dilute the ink. The “snapdragon” wording is made up from some leftover Cardstock Stickers by Little Yellow Bicycle that I had in my craft stash, and as I didn’t have the full complement of letters to spell out the word, I also made some of the letters using card and Uni Posca paint pens. The antirrhinum definition is cut from my old school dictionary, it is stuck to the page using a UHU Stic and outlined with a Charcoal Grey Derwent Inktense pencil and a black Uni Posca paint pen. Next I edged a pink “Love this” sign by The Works using a black Sharpie marker and stuck it to the page using double-sided foam tape. To finish, I added some gold flower outline stickers, green pearls and green lace trim.

Here are the lovely snapdragons in our garden! These flowers are also known as “dragon flowers” and their Latin name antirrhinum means resembling an animal’s snout.

They bring back the most wonderful childhood memories of when I used to play with these flowers and make the dragon open and close its mouth by gently squeezing either side of the flower head– well in actual fact I still do this, it is such fun (grin!)

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page: